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Impact-driven disproportionation origin of nanophase iron particles in Chang’e-5 lunar soil sample

Nature Astronomy volume 6, pages 1156–1162 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Abundant nanophase iron (np-Fe0) is ubiquitously formed on the surface of the Moon and other airless bodies through space weathering processes, and plays a dominant role in transforming the optical properties of the lunar surface. The main sources of np-Fe0 are usually considered to be evaporative deposition or ion-reduction processes. Here we show that disproportionation reactions triggered by micrometeorite impacts can be the main contributor to np-Fe0 formation. We measured the valence states of iron in the microcraters on a fine-grained Chang’e-5 sample (number CE5C0200YJFM00302) and found the presence of np-Fe0 and associated Fe3+ in the amorphous mixture of olivine, which can be explained by the disproportionation reaction of Fe2+ during microimpacts. The chemical composition of the residual impactor suggested that it was formed by a secondary low-velocity impact on lunar anorthite. As the whole process was dominated by impact events without the contribution from the solar wind, these findings inform us on weathering mechanisms on regions or bodies that do not experience a strong solar wind component, such as permanently shadowed areas or outer Solar System bodies.

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Fig. 1: Secondary electron images of CE5C0200YJFM00302 particles captured by FIB-SEM.
Fig. 2: TEM image of the longitudinal section of a FIB slice containing microcraters on an olivine grain.
Fig. 3: The compositional data and speculation of the source of microcraters.
Fig. 4: Microscopic morphology and valence states of np-Fe0 in microcrater 1.
Fig. 5: Gibbs free energy of reactions.

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Data availability

All data generated and analysed in this study are included in the article and its Supplementary Information. A complete dataset for this study is also available at Mendeley Data at https://doi.org/10.17632/sy4g3mg8j2.1. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We thank CNSA for providing access to the lunar sample CE5C0200YJFM00302. We also thank funding support from Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences grant XDB 41000000 (Y.L.); Natural Science Foundation of China grant 41931077; and Technical Advanced Research Project of Civil Space grant D020201, Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS grant 2020395, and Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS, grant numbers ZDBS-SSW-JSC007-10 and QYZDY-SSW-DQC028 (Y.L.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, China

    Chen Li, Zhuang Guo, Yang Li, Kairui Tai, Xiongyao Li & Jianzhong Liu

  2. Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China

    Chen Li, Kuixian Wei & Wenhui Ma

  3. Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, China

    Yang Li, Xiongyao Li & Jianzhong Liu

  4. National Engineering Research Center of Vacuum Metallurgy, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China

    Wenhui Ma

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Contributions

C.L. analysed the datasets and wrote the manuscript. Z.G. contributed to the TEM and EELS discussion. Y.L. contributed to the experimental design and manuscript discussion. K.T., K.W., X.L. J.L. and W.M. contributed to the manuscript discussions.

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Correspondence to Yang Li or Kuixian Wei.

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Nature Astronomy thanks Leon Hicks and Kate Burgess for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–10 and Table 1.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Unprocessed SEM images for Fig. 1.

Source Data Fig. 2

Unprocessed TEM images for Fig. 2.

Source Data Fig. 3

Unprocessed HAADF and EDS images for Fig. 3.

Source Data Fig. 4

Unprocessed HRTEM and HAADF images and EELS source data for Fig. 4.

Source Data Fig. 5

Source data for Fig. 5.

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Li, C., Guo, Z., Li, Y. et al. Impact-driven disproportionation origin of nanophase iron particles in Chang’e-5 lunar soil sample. Nat Astron 6, 1156–1162 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01763-3

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